Chakles w



(No Model.)

O. W. RAMSAY.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FERMENTED, PERMENTABLE, AND

DISTILLBD LIQUORS.

Patented Feb. 6, 1883 In 0022 Z01? VVz'Zn asses N. PETERS, PV JQQLMh-Ognphcr, Washington. D. c

UNTTEE STATES PATENT @EETcE.

CHARLES XV. RAMSAY, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO CLARK B. HOTGHKISS, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FERMENTED, FERMENTABLE, AND DISTILLED LIQUORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,656, dated February 6, 1883. Application filed September 13, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES W. RAMSAY,

of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improved Machine or Apparatus for Treating Fermented, Fermentable, and Distilled Liquidssuch as wine, beer, ale, liquors, and other like articlesaccording to the processes for which Letters Patent have recently been granted to me; and I hereby declare the following to be .afull and clear description of the same.

This invention relates to an apparatus containing a series of connected chambers having parallel ends, with sides somewhat in the form.

I5 ot' a helix, each successive chamber of the series being larger than the one preceding it, and the interior surface of the curvilinear portion of each chamber being preferably corrugated, so as to break up at the instant of impact into an infinitely-finesprayanyfluid thrown against it by revolving drivers or heaters, one set of which is placed within each of the chambers. The tluid to be treated is fed into the first or smallest chamber through a suitable pipe or 2 other opening, and is thence driven by the revolving drivers or beaters into the next chamber of the series, and so on through the whole series of chambers, from the last of which it is discharged into a suitable tank or receiver,

0 where it is allowed to recondense into the form of a fluid. While undergoing this operation the material treated will be in a gaseous or vaporous form, and in such form will be subjected to severe continuous concussions against 5 the smooth or corrugated surfaces of the successive chambers, and by these concussions the contained infusorial orother germ life will be effectually destroyed, and thereby injurious fermentation will thereafter be arrested or pre- 0 vented. \Vith this same apparatus, also, the liquor or other article treated may be readily oxidized or aged by introducing into the chambers the requisite amount of oxygen for that purpose in the form of atmospheric air or 5 pure oxygen.

My invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 of which is a central sectional elevation of the machine, taken diametrically through all of the helical chambers and their rotary dis- 5o tributers. Fig.2is a transverse sectionalelevation of the same parts shown in Fig. 1, this view being taken on the dotted line as m of Fig. 1.

A A represents a supporting-frame tor the machine, which frame maybe madein any desired or convenient form. Conveniently attached to and supported by this frame is a set of converting or treating chambers, B O D.

There should preferably be two or more of these chambers; but for ordinary use I prefer-to employ three of them, as I'have shown. These chambers have helical or nearly helical sides W, as shown in Fig. 1, and straight parallel ends y,'as shown in Fig. 2, the ends being tightly fitted to the side or curved plates, so as to form perfectly-tight connections between these parts, which are to be secured together either by stud-bolts, securing each end respectively to the curved side plates, or by through-bolts z, passing through both of the end plates and holding them firmly together and to the intervening side plate, as shown in Fig. 2. There are driving-shafts B 0 D passing transversely through their respectivechambers B O 1), and provided with suitable hearings in the frame A A. To these shafts are respectively attached the rotary distributers, drivers, or heaters B 0 D the'construction and operation of which will be presently explained.

The shafts B O D are placed eccentrically across the chambers B O D, to which they respectively belong, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1, so as to bring the side of the rotary drivers or heaters (in each case) nearest the inlet side of its chamber, thus allowing an increased amount of room on the opposite or outlet side of each set-0t drivers or heaters for the accommodation of the increased and increasing volume of the article under treatment as it asso mes the attenuated or gaseous or vaporous form. This increase of the vapor or gaseous cavity from the induction toward the eduction ports of the various chambers of this apparatus is clearly shown in Fig. 1, and the said cavi- 5 ties or sub-chambers are represented in the said Fig. 1 by the supplemental letters I) c (I, wherein itis not only shown that each of these vapor-cavities increases in size from the inlet end toward the outlet end, but also that the second cavity or sub-chamber,c, is larger than the one I), and the next one, d, is larger than the one, 0, which precedes it. This arrangement must be adhered to in the construction of the apparatus, whether one or two or more ot'tbeeonverting-chambersareemployed. This is a fundamental and important elementin the construction of the apparatus-t'. 0., increasing dimensions of the vaporous or gaseous cavities or sub-chambers must exist in the apparatus to allow for the expansion of the material under treatment, and this increase of size will belong to each separate cavity or subchambcr, and also to the sectional area of the whole set ofchambei's, taken as a whole. The interior side of the curved plate W of each of the chambers B U D, from a point contiguous to the inlet or induction port to a point contiguous to the outlet or eduction'port, measuied in the direction of the rotation of the distributers or heaters, will be corrugated, the said corrugations being represented by the letter win Fig. 1.

The heaters B C D preferably consist of two or more curved arms, attached to or cast solidly with the hub piece belonging thereto, each of the said hubs to be neatly fitted on and secured to the shaft to which it belongs, as shown in Fig. 1. Some effect, though not to so advantageous an extent, may be produced it" these arms are straight; but I prefer the mode of construction described. The curvature ofthe arms of these heaters should be opposite the direction of their rotation. Of course it would be possible to use straight radial arms for this purpose; but they would be liable to gather a consid rable amount of the fluid between them during their rotation, and so render ineffective, to aconsiderable degree, the centrifugal action of the machine. With the curved arms shown in the drawings the centrifugal action of the machine will be positive and certain; but if the arms were straight the effect might be to clog the machine.

An important element in the construction and operation of this apparatus is the construction and location of the ports or apertures through and from which theartiele treated is to he passed into and out of the converting or treating chambers. The material to he treated should be placed in a suitable tank or reservoir, E, which will for most or all purposes require to be tightly closed, except atits outlet-pipe F, through which the fluid to be treated will pass into the convetting-chambers. The pipe F should be provided with a suitable st0p-cock,f, to prevent or regulate the flow of the fluid into the apparatus, and this pipe will diseharge itself through an aperture, F, into the first chamber, 13, and an aperture or duct, F connects the chamber B with the next chamber, 0, and an aperture or duct, F connects the chamber 0 with the chamber D, and so on, should there be more than three of the converting-chambers, while the last ductor aperture, F", will lead from the last chamber of the series to the receiver or storage-reservoir G, where the vapor will beallowed to recoudense into the form offiuid. As is clearly shown in Fig. 1, the inlet or duct F is placed as nearly as practicable toward the bottom or lowest pointot' the first converting-chamber, B, and the aperture or duct F leading from the first to the second chamber of the series, is placed tangentially to the first convertingchamber, or as nearly so as practicable, and as far removed circumt'erentially from the. inletduct, F, the combination of the different cylinders will allow. This is for the purpose of utilizing as much of the corrugated surface 10 as possible, and this arrangement of the inlet and outlet ducts should apply, as far as possible, to each convertingchamber of the set, the important point being that each inlet shall be as near'the bottom ot its chamber as practicable, and each outlet placed tangentially,or nearly so, to its respective chamber, and as tar removed circum t'erentially from its corresponding inlet as possible, so as to get the full benefit ot' the operating surface 10. The first inlet or duct, F, being only required for the passage of fluid, need only be the s ze ot' the pipe to which it is attached; but the duct F being for the passage of vaporized or partly vaporized material, will necessarily be larger than F, and the duct F being for the passage of the same amount of material as F but in a. more rarefied form, will be larger than the duct F and so on, and for the same reason duet F should be larger than duct F Suitable stop-cocks may be attached to each of the cylinders or chambers to draw olf any sedimentary deposit that may accumulate in them.

This apparatus must necessarily be very strongly constructed, and for most purposes will be best built of cast-iron, and be copper or porcelain lined.

At this stage, if desired, oxygen in the form of atmospheric air or pure oxygen may be introduced into the chambers by means of a forcepump, air-compressor, or other suitable device, and this oxygen thus caused to thoroughly permeate the contents of the chambers thereby the aging of the liquor or other article treated will be easily and rapidly eflected, and tor this purpose an air-compressor or blower, H, should be suitably placed and connected with each of the converting-chambers by direct and branch pipes h h h h, and this aircompressor may be used to drive atmospheric air or oxygen into the converting-chambers during the process of treating any fluid which will require such auxiliary treatment while it is in a vaporous form for the purpose of aging or oxidizing it.

The method of operating my apparatus is very simply explained. The substance or fluid to be treated is fed into the first convertingchamber through the pipe F, and is driven around by the distrihuters orheaters B against the smooth or corrugated surface of this chamher B, the material tlyingoft from the rotating arms or bcaters of B in centrifugal lines with great force, and striking the corrugations to with such a violentimpact as to destroy in the first chamber most of the infusorial or other germ life, and in the successive chamber or chambers all of the germ life contained in the article treated.' In each successive chamber after the first the rarel'action of the material will be increased and the shocks imparted will he more severe until the final climax is reached in the last convertirig-chamber. This effect will be produced by reason of the graduallyincreasing dimensions of the treating-chambers hereinbefore explained, and by the rotating of each successive distri'outer or set of heaters after the first more rapidly than the one preceding it. Thus about the proper speed for the first distributer, B should he, say, fifteen hundred revolutions per minute, that for the distributer 0 should be about two thousand revolutions per minute, and that for the distributer D should be about twenty-five hundred revolutions per minute, and so on. This is of course only intended as a general guide as to the regulation of the proper speed of the respective distributers, and it may in either case be made more or less, as may be desired or best adapted to any particular work. The distributers should preferably be rotated from a common driving-shaft, I, by means of suitable belts,t,or corresponding cog-gearing; but the mechanism should be so construc ted as to rotate the distributer against the current from the distributor B? and thp distributer D against the current from the distributor 0 as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1. The object of this construction is to cause the distributersto movein a direction opposite to the current of fluid or vapor which strikes them, and thereby to cause this current of fluid or vapor to impinge with great violence upon the distribnters, thus very greatly contributing to the production of the general result.

It is importantthat the apertures or ducts F F F B should be located atas low a point as practicable in the chambers that are respectively intended to exhaust, and that 'the direction or their dist-.liarge shall be downwardly, as I have found it to be impracticable to discharge these cold vapors in any other direction than downwardly.

Having described my-invention, I claim 1. A mechanical vaporizing apparatus consisting of a chamber having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, and provided with a suitable inlet-pipe at or near its periphery, and a downwardly-directed tangential discharge-pipe, in combination with a rotary beater within said chamber, substantially as set forth.

2. A mechanical vaporizing apparatus consisting of a chamber having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, and provided with a suitableinlet-pipe at or near its periphery, a downwardly-directed tangential discharge-pipe, and corrugations between the inlet and discharge pipes, in combination witha rotary beater within said chamber, substantially as set forth.

3. A mechanical vaporiz ng apparatus consisting of a chamber having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, and provided with an inlet-pipe at or nearits periphery,and with a downwardly-directed tangential discharge pipe, in combination with a rotary beater, the arms of which are curved, as described, whereby they are made to present a. curved surface to the discharge-pipe, substantially as set forth.

4. A mechanical vaporizing apparatus consisting of a chamber having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, and provided with an inlet-pipe, a downwardly-directed tangential discharge-pipe, and corrugations between the inlet and discharge pipes, in combination with a rotary beater the arms of which are curved, as described, whereby they are made to present a curved surface to the discharge-pipe, substantially as set forth.

5. In a mechanical vaporizingapparatus, the combination of two or more chambers arranged in series and provided with rotary heaters, an inlet-pipe at one end of the series, a downwardly-directed discharge-pipe at the other end of the series, and connecting pipes or passages between the chambers, each successive chamber of the series being larger than the preceding chamber, substantially as et-forth.'

6. 111 a mechanical vaporizing apparatus, two or more chambers having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, provided with a peripheral inlet-pipe at one endcf the series, a downwardly-directed tangential discharge-pipe at the other end of theseries, and tangential connecting pipes or passages between the chambers, in combination with-rotary beaters within said chambers, substantially as set forth.

7. In a mechanical vaporizing apparatus, a chamber having parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, and provided with an inlet-pipe at or near its periphery and a downwardly-directed tangential discharge-pipe, in combination with arotary heater in said chamher, a gas-conipressor, and a pipe connecting the latter with the chamber, substantially as set forth.

8. In amechanical vaporizing apparatus, the combination of a series of chambers provided with parallel ends and helical or nearly helical sides, a peripheral imluction-port, a peripheral down\vardly-opening discharge-port, and. corrugations between the ports, in combination with rotary heaters within said chambers, and tangential connecting-pipes between the chambers, substantially as described.

CHARLES W. RAMSAY. 

